Ice container for railway refrigerator cars



Nov. 9, 1954 v. E. wEs-r 2,693,581 ICE CONTAINER FOR RAILWY REFRIGERATORCARS Filed nay 2o, 195o 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVEIyToR.

Nov. 9, 1954 v. E. wEsT 2,693,681 ICE CONTAINER FOR RAILWAY REFRIGERATORCARS Filed May 20. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent AO ICEcoNrAnv-ER For; `irAiwAif nnrnrennxron sans Victo E; West, Chicago,Ill., as sigil'o' to Way Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago,

Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application lVay 26,1950, Serial o. sclaims. (Cl. s2- 17) This invention relates to railroad refrigeratorcars having hatches in the roof thereof through which refrigerantcontainers, located adjacent the roof, but spaced slightly therebelowfor air circulation therebetween, are serviced, said containers havingopenings in the top thereof registering with the hatch openings in thecar roof.

The invention more specifically relates to such cars having containersfor holding brine and water ice as the refrigerating medium.

The high speeds of modern freight trains induce a vigorous swayingaction of the cars, and where the liquid is a b rine solution, aconsequent surging of liquid in said containers.

It is often desirable to provide refrigerant containers with aperturesso that when the car is in Ventilating service outside air may beadmitted through the hatches, container and apertures into the interiorof the car. Such apertured containers, however, must be so constructedthat when in ordinary refrigerating service, the brine cannot splashthrough the apertures into the interior of the car, which constructionof container is the principal object of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to provide said containers with anovel form of overow plug and down spout for draining the containerswhen necessary.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in thefollowing description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing forming part of thisapplication and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure l is a partial transverse section of a refrigerator car embodyingthe invention in its simplest form.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l of a modified form of theinvention.

In the drawings 1 represents the upper portion of the side wall of arailway refrigerator car and 2 the roof thereof, both of which it willbe understood are of suitable insulated construction, the details ofwhich may be omitted, since they form no part of my present invention.Roof sheet 3 extends across the car roof and has turndowned anges at theends, one of which is shown at 4, which lap side sill 5, as is common.Spaced inwardly from flange 4 is formed a hatch opening 6 and roof sheet3 is provided with upturned anges 7 about said opening. A hatch frame 8,which is in the form of a downwardly facing channel, overlaps the ange7. A hatch box 9 is fitted within the hatch frame 8 and extendsdownwardly through the roof and terminates in a laterally turned ange 10which rests upon a gasket 11 upon the upwardly bulged margins of opening12 formed in the top sheet 13 of ice container 14. Opening 12 isconcentric with the opening formed by hatch box 9 through whichconcentric openings container 14 may be serviced with ice or otherrefrigerating mediums. Container 14 comprises side walls 15, end walls,one of which is shown at 16, and bottom 17, which are integrally formed.The inner side wall 15 extends above the top of end walls 16 and isflanged inwardly, as at 18, whereas the outer side wall 15 is flangedinwardly and forms a seat for the outer side margin of top sheet 13. Theinner side of top sheet 13 is flanged downwardly, as at 19, forming afalse side wall which does not extend downwardly to bottom 17, leaving aspace 20 therebetween. Bafiies 21 extend inwardly and downwardly towardeach other in alternately spaced relations from walls 19 and 15 toretard surging of liquid from said container upwardly through the spacebetween walls 19 and 15. When the ice lspace between walls' 19 and 15into theV interior of the car; f To d rain said container when desired adrain spoutZS iszsecured tb the. lower outer corner of said container,said spout extending within. a funnelflik uppeir endx26 of downspout 27extending downwardly through the oor of the car. An L-shaped section ofpipe having a tapered end 28 extends within spout 25 and fits snuglytherein to provide an effective seal when therein. Other end 29 of saidpipe extends upwardly adjacent outer wall 15 terminating adjacent topsheet 13 and is provided with overflow openings 30. A V-shaped handle 31is secured to the side of end 29, one leg of which handle projectstoward opening 12 so that an operator may reach through hatchway 9 oropening 12, and grasp said handle 31, to remove or replace the pipe28--29 from or to the drain spout. For greater convenience, a chain, aportion of which is shown at 32, is secured to said handle, a link ofwhich may be hooked by an instrument inserted through the hatchway 9 andopening 12 and thereby removes the pipe 28-29 for draining thecontainer. A yoke 33 extends around the pipe 28-29 with the free endsthereof pivoted in a bracket 34, which yoke holds the pipe 28-29 inposition, and so that the vibration or swaying of the car would notshake the pipe loose thereby permitting the brine to drain out. Thisyoke must be swung up and over the pipe 28-29 before the latter can beremoved. The tighter the pipe fits within spout 25 the farther the yokewill slide down in the V-notch' of the handle 31.

In the structure shown in Figure 2, the container 14 is formed with bothside walls arranged for ventilation. The top sheet 35 is formed with thefilling opening 12, as in Figure 1, and is hanged downwardly, as at 36and 37, at both sides, forming false side walls, the lower edges ofwhich are spaced from the bottom of the container. The bottom 38 extendsbeyondfalse side walls 36 and 37 and is flanged upwardly forming sidewalls 39 and 40 spaced from false side walls 36 and 37, and end walls,one of which is shown at 41. Walls 39-36 and 40-37 are provided withbaffles 42 which extend downwardly and inwardly within the spacesbetween said walls and prevent surging of liquid upwardly therethroughwhen the container 14 is lled with brine.

I claim:

l. A refrigerant container for a railway refrigerator car, saidcontainer having a filling opening therein, said container having a topportion secured \-along three margins to three contiguous walls of saidcontainer and formed with a downturned false wall spaced from the otherwall of said container, said false wall and said other wall havingspaced baflles extending toward each other to retard surging of liquidwithin said container upwardly in the space between said other wall andfalse wall of said container.

2. A refrigerant container for a railway refrigerator car, saidcontainer having a filling opening therein, the top of said containerprovided with a downturned flange spaced inwardly from a side wall toform a false side wall spaced from said side wall, said false wall andsaid side wall having spaced baffles extending toward each other toretard surging of liquid within said container upwardly in the spacebetween the side wall and false wall of said container.

3. A refrigerant container for a railway refrigerator car, saidcontainer comprising integrally formed spaced side and end walls andbottom, a top portion secured along three margins to one end and thesides of said container, extending to adjacent the other end wall, andformed into a false endwall spaced from said other end wall and saidbottom, and spaced bafles extending overlappingly toward each other fromsaid false end wall and said other end wall.

4. A refrigerant container for a railway refrigerator car, saidcontainer comprising spaced side and end walls and bottom, a top portionsecured to one end and the sides of said container, extending toadjacent the other end wall, and turned downwardly forming a false endwall spaced from said other end wall, and baffles extending inwardly anddownwardly toward each other from said false end wall and` said otherend wall to' retard surging of liquid in said container upwardly in thespace between said false end wall and said other end Wall.

5. A refrigerant container for a railway refrigerator carsaid containercomprising spaced side and end walls and bottom, a top portion securedto one end and the sides of said container, extending to adjacent theother end wall, and formed into a false end wall spaced from said otherend wall and said bottom, alternately spaced baies extendingoverlappingly toward each other from said false end wall and said otherend wall to retard 15 2,434,062

v 4 surging of liquid in said container upwardly in the space betweensaid false end wall and said other end wall.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 306,523 Read Oct. 14, 1884 1,664,116 Kortenhoeven Mar. 27,1928 1,962,860 Duell June 12, 1934 `2,100,124 Gilpin Nov. 23, 19372,120,345 Bancroft June 14, 1938 2,136,999 Bonsall Nov. 15, 19382,236,347 Stanclile Mar. 25, 1941 Battley Ian. 6, 1948

